Sherri has a very unique and inspiring holiday tradition, one that I actually am thinking of adopting. Her favorite way to spend the holidays: “keeping the whole thing simple”.

We celebrate Christmas in July with my Mom because that is when it works out for us the best. The one tradition that I do every holiday season is to journal 120 things for each of the following: what I acknowledge myself for, what I am grateful for, my goals for the next year. I put this journal away until the next year. It's fun seeing what I actually have had happen that was on my list. Oh yes, my Kung Fu Kwoon has a New's Year's challenge to do 1000 pushups and 1000 situps on New Year's in which I dive into. The reason is to start the new year with new life (and in this case, finding out which muscles really need help).

Ok... I won't be trying the push-ups! Another thing you should know: Intui has a generous offer on for our blog readers: 15% off. Just indicate TransCanPromo in notes to seller when purchasing.

Mythicalmatters of Toronto is one of the team's newest members. This shop is run by the team of Storm and Shadow. They are purveyors of fine fragrances in lotion, bath salt and room spray form.

Storm and Shadow enjoy researching the history behind out favorite traditions. They provided some fascinating information about the Christmas tree. (Source: Tony van Renterghem, When Santa Was a Shaman)

Shadow and I love legends & lore, and so, when we went to work on our latest creation, our Smells Like A Christmas Tree! Spray, we got to looking up all the old tales and traditions that centre around the iconic tree.

We were amazed to discover that the tradition of a lit tree dates all the way back to Neolithic civilization! It's our oldest myth, and though it's exact account is lost, many cultures around the globe share similar versions of the tale.

One cold, ancient day, a terrible storm wreaked havoc on one of our ancestral tribes. In terrible awe, they saw a lightning bolt hit a tree, and watched it catch fire. They'd seen this happen before, and knew the devastation of forest fires, so most of the tribe scattered to make their escape. However, on this particular occasion, perhaps due to some surrounding dampness, the flames were kept in check and in one spot.

One young female had stood her ground despite her fear, bravely watching and learning. A burning branch crashed to the ground. She picked it up, and felt it warm her. She fed it dry kindling, and saw that she could keep the fire burning this way. She went to tribe's eldest male and offered him the branch. Everyone was frightened and appalled at first - nothing like this had ever been done before, and lightning came from the heavens - not something to be toyed with. But seeing that no vengeful deity's wrath was immediately apparent, and feeling the cave warm up, the eldest male accepted the gift, and made her his mate.

To give thanks for the gift from above, or to atone for the sacrilegious theft, the tribe placed sacrificial gifts on a tree and lit it on fire in order to return it to where it had come from. This tradition has since been practiced in one form or another right up to today's lit trees. And so was born our very first knowledge of how to control the forces of nature.

Hey, did I mention that you can earn a ballot into our prize draw by writing a letter to Santa that includes one item from each of three of our participating sellers. Click below for the full list of participating shops and for more details on how to win our fabulous TransCanada etsy team goodie bag.

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